Networking

Topology

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Networking
Topology

The structure of a network is called the topology. The Bus and Ring topologies both
share the same network wire. In the Star configuration each computer has a
single wire that connects it to a central hub.
In the Ring and Bus topologies the network control is distributed between all of the
computers on the network. The wiring only uses a single loop or run of wire.
But, because there is only one wire, the network will slow down significantly as
traffic increases. This also requires more sophisticated network interfaces that
can determine when a computer is allowed to transmit messages. It is also
possible for a problem on the network wires to halt the entire network.
The Star topology requires more wire overall to connect each computer to an
intelligent hub. But, the network interfaces in the computer become simpler, and
the network becomes more reliable. Another term commonly used is that it is
deterministic, this means that performance can be predicted. This can be
important in critical applications.

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 Networking
Topology

For a factory environment the bus topology is popular. The large

number of wires required for a star configuration can be expensive
and confusing. The loop of wire required for a ring topology is
also difficult to connect, and it can lead to ground loop problems.

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Networking
Networking Hardware

The following is a description of most of the hardware that will be needed

in the design of networks.
• Computer (or network enabled equipment)
• Network Interface Hardware - The network interface may already be built
into the computer/PLC/sensor/etc. These may cost $15 to over $1000.
• The Media - The physical network connection between network nodes.
• 10baseT (twisted pair) is the most popular. It is a pair of twisted
copper wires terminated with an RJ-45 connector.
• 10base2 (thin wire) is thin shielded coaxial cable with BNC
connectors
• 10baseF (fiber optic) is costly, but signal transmission and noise
properties are very good.

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 Networking
Networking Hardware

• Repeaters (Physical Layer) - These accept signals and retransmit them

so that longer networks can be built.

• Hub/Concentrator - A central connection point that network wires will

be connected to. It will pass network packets to local computers, or
to remote networks if they are available.

• Router (Network Layer) - Will isolate different networks, but redirect

traffic to other LANs.

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Networking
Networking Hardware

• Bridges (Data link layer) - These are intelligent devices that can
convert data on one type of network, to data on another type of
network. These can also be used to isolate two networks.

• Gateway (Application Layer) - A Gateway is a full computer that will

direct traffic to different networks, and possibly screen packets.
These are often used to create firewalls for security.

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 Networking
Networking problems

The bus network topology only uses a single transmission wire for all
nodes. If all of the nodes decide to send messages simultaneously,
the messages would be corrupted (a collision occurs). There are a
variety of methods for dealing with network collisions, and
arbitration.
• CSMA/CD (Collision Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection)
- if two nodes start talking and detect a collision then they will
stop, wait a random time, and then start again.
• CSMA/BA (Collision Sense Multiple Access/Bitwise Arbitration) -
if two nodes start talking at the same time the will stop and use
their node addresses to determine which one goes first.

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Networking
Networking problems

• Master-Slave - one device on the network is the master and is the

only one that may start communication. slave devices will only
respond to requests from the master.
• Token Passing - A token, or permission to talk, is passed sequentially
around a network so that only one station may talk at a time.
The token passing method is deterministic, but it may require that a node
with an urgent message wait to receive the token. The master-slave
method will put a single machine in charge of sending and receiving.
This can be restrictive if multiple controllers are to exist on the same
network. The CSMA/CD and CSMA/BA methods will both allow
nodes to talk when needed. But, as the number of collisions increase
the network performance degrades quickly.

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 Networking
Token ring
Token ring networks are used primarily in technical and office environments. This
network is not popular for industrial systems because if a single node or cable
fails then the entire ring's operation can be compromised.
There are two approaches to resolving the hardware failure problem:
• Each station has a hardware bypass set of relay switches to ensure continuity of
the ring even if the node fails or is switched off.
• The ring architecture can be duplicated so that there are two communication
paths.
Whenever a node wishes to send a frame it first waits for the token. On receipt of the
token, it commences transmission of the frame which includes the address of the
destination at its head. The frame is repeated by all nodes until it circulates back to the
initiating node. The destination node retains a copy of the frame and indicates to the
transmitting node that it has retained a copy by setting the appropriate response bits at
the tail of the frame.

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Networking
Token bus
The basic operation of a Token Bus is as follows:
• All active nodes are linked in the form of a logical ring.
• On receipt of a token, the active node may transmit any waiting
frames up to a defined maximum.
• The active node then passes on the token to its known successor.
A useful property of a Token Bus network is that all active nodes can
receive a transmission from one transmitting node simultaneously.

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 Networking
Token bus

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Network standards
Devicenet
Devicenet has become one of the most widely supported control
networks. It is an open standard, so components from a variety of
manufacturers can be used together in the same control system. It
is supported and promoted by the Open Devicenet Vendors
Association (ODVA) (see http://www.odva.org). This group
includes members from all of the major controls manufacturers.
This network has been designed to be noise resistant and robust. One
major change for the control engineer is that the network can be
connected directly to the sensors and actuators. This will reduce
the total amount of wiring by moving I/O points closer to the
application point. This can also simplify the connection of
complex devices, such as HMIs. Two way communications inputs
and outputs allow diagnosis of network problems from the main
controller.

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 Network standards
Devicenet
Devicenet covers all seven layers of the OSI standard. The protocol has a limited
number of network address, with very small data packets. But this also helps
limit network traffic and ensure responsiveness. The length of the network
cables will limit the maximum speed of the network. The basic features of are
listed below.
• A single bus cable that delivers data and power.
• Up to 64 nodes on the network.
• Data packet size of 0-8 bytes.
• Lengths of 500m/250m/100m for speeds of 125kbps/250kbps/500kbps respectively.
• Devices can be added/removed while power is on.
• Based on the CANbus (Controller Area Network) protocol for OSI levels 1 and
2.
• Addressing includes peer-to-peer, multicast, master/slave, polling or change of
state.

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Network standards
Ethernet
Ethernet has become the predominate networking format. Version I was
released in 1980 by a consortium of companies. In the 1980s
various versions of ethernet frames were released. These include
Version II and Novell Networking (IEEE 802.3). Most modern
ethernet cards will support different types of frames.

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 Network standards
Ethernet
The first six bytes are the destination address for the message. If all of the
bits in the bytes are set then any computer that receives the message
will read it. The first three bytes of the address are specific to the card
manufacturer, and the remaining bytes specify the remote address.
The address is common for all versions of ethernet. The source
address specifies the message sender. The first three bytes are specific
to the card manufacturer. The remaining bytes include the source
address. This is also identical in all versions of ethernet. The ethernet
type identifies the frame as a Version II ethernet packet if the value is
greater than 05DChex. The other ethernet types use these to bytes to
indicate the datalength. The data can be between 46 to 1500 bytes in
length. The frame concludes with a checksum that will be used to
verify that the data has been transmitted correctly. When the end of
the transmission is detected, the last four bytes are then used to verify
that the frame was received correctly.

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Network standards
Ethernet

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 Network standards
Profibus
Another control network that is popular in europe, but also available world wide. It is also
promoted by a consortium of companies (http://www.profibus.com). General
features include;
• A token passing between up to three masters
• Maximum of 126 nodes
• Straight bus topology
• Length from 9600m/9.6Kbps with 7 repeaters to 500m/12Mbps with 4 repeaters
• With fiber optic cable lengths can be over 80Km
• 2 data lines and shield
• Power needed at each station
• Uses RS-485, ethernet, fiber optics, etc.
• 2048 bits of I/O per network frame

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Network standards
Modbus
Modbus has its roots in the late seventies of the previous century. It is 1979 when PLC
manufacturer Modicon—now a brand of Schneider Electric's Telemecanique—
published the Modbus communication interface for a multidrop network based on a
master/client architecture. Communication between the Modbus nodes was
achieved with messages. It was an open standard that described the messaging
structure. The physical layer of the Modbus interface was free to choose. The
original Modbus interface ran on RS-232, but most later Modbus implementations
used RS-485 because it allowed longer distances, higher speeds and the possibility
of a true multi-drop network. In a short time hunderds of vendors implemented the
Modbus messaging system in their devices and Modbus became the de facto
standard for industrial communication networks.

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 Network standards
Modbus
The nice thing of the Modbus standard is the flexibility, but at the same
time the easy implementation of it. Not only intelligent devices like
microcontrollers, PLCs etc. are able to communicate with Modbus,
also many intelligent sensors are equiped with a Modbus interface to
send their data to host systems. While Modbus was previously mainly
used on wired serial communication lines, there are also extensions to
the standard for wireless communications and TCP/IP networks.

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Network standards
Modbus

Modbus message structure

Field Description
Device address Address of the receiver
Function code Code defining message type
Data Data block with additional information
Error check Numeric check value to test for communication errors

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 Network standards
Modbus

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Network comparison

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 Network comparison

ETC

Serial communication
Serial is a device communication protocol that is standard on almost
every PC
The concept of serial communication is simple. The serial port sends
and receives bytes of information one bit at a time. Although
this is slower than parallel communication, which allows the
transmission of an entire byte at once, it is simpler and you can
use it over longer distances. For example, the IEEE 488
specifications for parallel communication state that the cabling
between equipment can be no more than 20 m total, with no
more than 2 m between any two devices; serial, however, can
extend as much as 1200 m.

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 Serial communication
RS-232 (ANSI/EIA-232 Standard) is the serial connection found on
IBM-compatible PCs. Engineers use it for many purposes, such
as connecting a mouse, printer, or modem, as well as for
industrial instrumentation. Because of line driver and cable
improvements, applications often increase the performance of
RS-232 beyond the distance and speed listed in the standard.
RS-232 is limited to point-to-point connections between PC
serial ports and devices. You can use RS-232 hardware for
serial communication for distances up to 50 ft.

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Serial communication
Pin functions
Data: TxD on pin 3, RxD on pin 2
Handshake: RTS on pin 7, CTS on pin 8, DSR on pin 6,
DCD on pin 1, DTR on pin 4
Common: Com on pin 5
Other: RI on pin 9

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 Serial communication

ETC

Serial communication
RS-485 (EIA-485 Standard) is an improvement over RS-422
because it increases the number of devices from 10 to 32 and
defines the electrical characteristics necessary to ensure
adequate signal voltages under maximum load. With this
enhanced multidrop capability, you can create networks of
devices connected to a single RS-485 serial port. The noise
immunity and multidrop capability make RS-485 the serial
connection of choice in industrial applications requiring many
distributed devices networked to a PC or other controller for
data collection, HMI, or other operations. RS-485 is a superset
of RS-422; thus, all RS-422 devices may be controlled by RS-
485. You can use RS-485 hardware for serial communication
for up to 4000 ft of cable.

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 Serial communication
The multidrop is because a line driver can operate in three states
(called Iri-state operation), Logic "0", Logic "1" and "high-
impedance", where it draws virtually no current and appears not
to be present on the line. This latter state is known as the
"disabled" state and can be initiated by a signal on a control pin
on the line driver integrated circuit

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Serial communication
Handshaking

The RS-232 communication method allows for a simple connection

of three lines -- Tx, Rx, and ground. However, for the data to be
transmitted, both sides must be clocking the data at the same
baud rate. Although this method is sufficient for most
applications, it is limited in responding to problems such as
overloaded receivers. This is where serial handshaking can
help. Three of the most popular forms of handshaking with RS-
232 are software handshaking, hardware handshaking, and
Xmodem.

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